The ultimate purpose of this page is to discuss our DNA results. We will post results of matching families, suggestions for further research, as well as genealogical reserch in progress. Please read the first notice: WE MADE A MATCH!

PROJECT SUCCESS--THE FIRST mtDNA MATCH: U28 and U89 share a common maternal ancestor. The two participants did not know one another, and there was no previously-suspected relationship between them. This pedigree match was made by the U5 project administrator after seeing the mtDNA mutations of U28 and U89, looking at the pedigree of U28, and seeing that U89's ancestor Polly Caudill Eldridge lived in the same area as some of the ancestors of U28. The project administrator traced Polly's ancestors back to the common ancestor of U28 and U89. The common ancestor is Henrietta Caudill Adams, b. 1759 in Sussex County, Virginia. The surnames of maternal ancestors change with each generation, and comparing the names of the Earliest Known Ancestor is not enough. This match is a great example of why we compile maternal pedigrees on our Matriarchs page.

FULL-MITOCHONDRIAL DNA RESULTS: The U5 Project currently has several members who have received results from a full mtDNA sequence test, and more are in process. This is the "Mega" mtDNA test offered by Family Tree DNA. The participants who have ordered full sequences have consented to share them with the U5 Project. Their results will not be made public without their consent, but we have added these sequences to the full mtDNA sequence data from published scientific studies. Many of the project participants have submitted their full-sequence results to GenBank, so they can now see their sequence on the worldwide-mtDNA tree. We will soon have a large number of U5 sequences for comparison. All project members who receive full mitochondrial DNA sequences can receive a free mtDNA report analyzing their polymorphismsas well as a free GenBank submission file. Contact the U5 Project Administrator for details.

Participant T-71 does not have mutation 16270T which is a defining mutation for haplogroup U5. However, a full mitochondrial DNA analysis has been done on this sample, and with the exception of 16270T, T-71 is has every mutation leading to haplogroup U5b2. The haplogroup assignment is correct.

Several people in the U5 project are reporting Native American (especially Cherokee) ancestry. Current scientific research states that almost all Native Americans are from mitochondrial haplogroups A, B, C, D, and X. U5 has not been designated as one of the Native American haplogroups. Neither is it strictly European. U5 and its subclades has been found in Europe, Northern Africa, and as far east as India. U5 participants with Native American ancestry may be interested in the following article: Unexpected Patterns of Mitochondrial DNA Variation Among Native Americans from the Southeastern United States.This study used the results from hypervariable region 1 (HVR1). Full mitochondrial DNA sequences may have shown different results. For example, all of the participants on the phylogenetic tree on page 347 of the article are identified as haplogroup B. However, one has mutation 16270 which is the defining marker of haplogroup U5. The concluding paragraph of the article states that the DNA results differentiate the Cherokee from the other southeastern Native American populations: "The other Cherokee haplotypes are all relatively distant from the other southeastern haplotypes."